If you’ve closed down a bar at any point since around the year 2000, you know that many bars will play Semisonic’s “Closing Time” after last call, which is our indication to get the hell out (before that, it was “Happy Trails” for decades, though there was a period in the late 80s/early 90s where it was at least the David Lee Roth version of “Happy Trails.”

It turns out, however, that the song we long thought was about getting bounced from a bar isn’t about that, at all, as Dan Wilson — the lead singer of Semisonic — explains in the video below.

There are three things surprising about this video (pick it up around the 3:44 mark): 1) I never pictured that the lead singer of Semisonic as someone who looked professorial; 2) I can’t believe that song is 17 years old now; and 3) the real meaning behind the song is actually very sweet.

Source: Grounded Parent via Kolby, who is currently pregnant with Kolbaby #2